"Members of the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA), affiliated with National Nurses United, AFL-CIO, went out on a strike to protect their health insurance and pension benefits. Dania Muñoz, a nurse practitioner at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, explained that the private hospitals she and others were taking on are 'some of the top paid hospital systems in the country.'"
"Muñoz was perplexed by the hospitals' initial attempt to pull back on paying for health insurance premiums for their nursing staff. 'They just said it was too expensive,' she explained, and yet, 'they're the ones that talk to health insurance companies and set rates.'"
"'Health care for health care workers ... is definitely one of the biggest things that we were fighting for and that we were able to secure,' said Muñoz."
In early 2026, unprecedented nurses' strikes occurred simultaneously across the United States. New York City experienced its largest nurses strike ever, with approximately 15,000 nurses at three private hospitals striking for one month (January 12 to February 13), followed by 4,200 nurses at a fourth hospital striking for six weeks. Concurrently, over 30,000 nurses and healthcare workers employed by Kaiser Permanente in California and Hawaii ended their month-long strike on February 24. Members of the New York State Nurses Association, affiliated with National Nurses United, AFL-CIO, fought to protect health insurance and pension benefits. Nurse practitioners like Dania Muñoz highlighted the contradiction of wealthy hospital systems claiming healthcare costs were too expensive while simultaneously negotiating insurance rates. The strikes successfully secured healthcare coverage for nursing staff.
#nurses-strikes #collective-bargaining #healthcare-worker-benefits #labor-solidarity #health-insurance-and-pensions
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